The international typographic style, also known as Swiss style, is a trend in graphic design developed in Switzerland in the 1950s by Armin Hofmann and Emil Ruder. It emphasizes simplicity, readability and objectivity, using sans-serif fonts as the main and structuring element of the design. Among the corporate identities and logos emblematic of the international style are American Airlines (1967, Massimo Vignelli) Fiat, (Jean Reiwald and Armin Vogt), or Swissair (1978, Karl Gerstner). (source: wikipedia)

One of the effects of this very widespread (and rather rigid) style is that everything ends up looking the same. During the next semester, you will give a brand an identifiable personality, in the figurative sense of the word.